In Belgium, icon Tintin turns 90
As the world grapples with the consequences of fake news, a Belgian icon and timeless hero of many a journalist, Tintin, celebrated his 90th birthday last week.
It was on Jan. 10, 1929, when the first of the adventures of the intrepid international reporter were published in Le Petit Vingtieme newspaper supplement in Brussels. Created by Belgian artist Herge, the adventures of the fictional character — with his customary blue sweater, rolled pants and flipped copper hair — took him and his faithful dog, Snowy, across the world, building an image of journalists as do-gooders.
With more than
250 million copies of Tintin comics sold worldwide — in multiple languages — Moulinsart, the exclusive manager of Herge’s estate, also known as the Herge Foundation, has decided to mark the 90th birthday of the character with a yearlong celebration, starting with the young journalist’s expedition in the former Belgian colony of Congo.
On Thursday, Moulinsart announced
that a digital edition of "Tintin in the Congo" remastered in color will be released via the application Les Aventures de Tintin.
The comic is probably one of the most controversial works of Herge, regularly attacked for racism — including in court — for its depiction of the natives of the Congo; it is banned in the libraries
of several countries. Coincidentally, also on Thursday, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced the first-ever win by an opposition presidential candidate.
For Moulinsart, it's pure happenstance— as with the re-release of Tintin's adventure in the former Soviet Union.
"We started in 2017 with the Soviets, strangely it was the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution; today is the election in Congo, and in two years, by chance, we'll have Tintin in America," when Trump is up for re-election, Yves Fevrier, head of digital at Moulinsart, told reporters.
Other celebration initiatives include the planned opening in February of the first official Tintin store in Shanghai, a commemorative 5-euro coin, a series of documentaries and podcasts and a potential sequel to Steven Spielberg’s 2011 3D movie. (Spielberg needed 25 years to persuade Moulinsart to film the first one.)